Islam And Ahmadism By Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbal

WITH

A REPLY TO QUESTIONS

RArSED BY

PANDIT JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU

DR. SIR MUHAMMAD IQBAL

MA, Ph.D., D.Litt., LL.D., Barrister-at-Law

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A REPLY TO QUESTIONS

RAISED BY

PANDIT JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU

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ISLAM

AND ^

AHMADISM

m0

WITH

A REPLY TO QUESTIONS

RAISED BY
PANDIT JAWAHAR LAL NEHRU

BY

DR. SIR MUHAAAAAAD IQBAL

M. A., Ph.D., D.Litt,, LL.D., Barrister-at-Law

Published by:

Aalami Majlis-e-Tahamjz-e-Khatam-e-Nubuwwat,
Over Seas Office : 35, STOCKWELL GREEN LONDON
SW 9 9HZ U.K. Ph: 0207-737-S199
Central office: Hazoori Bagh Road, Multan,
Ph:061 -514122 Fax: (92-61)542277

is presenting this lucid and impres-
sive Statement of Dr. Sir Muhammad
Iqbal to the English-knowing and
through it the whole -world hopes
that those who take the views of
ulema as narrow-minded and bigoted
will realize the grave nature of the
mischief— both religious and cul-
tural — that Ahmadism tends to
cause to the body-politic of Islam.

KHAN MUHAMMAD

Amir

Ovefseas Office : 35, STOCKWELL GREEN
LONDON SW 9 9HZ U.K.

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ISLAM AND AHMADISM

[By Dr. Sir Muhammad Iqbai]

On the appearance of Pandit Jawahai*
Lai Nehru's three articles in the Modern
Review of Calcutta I received a number
of letters from Muslims of different shades
of religious and political opinion. Some
writers of these letters want me to further
elucidate and justify , the attitude of the
Indian Muslims towards the Ahmadis.
Others ask me what exactly I regard as
the issue involved in Ahmadism. In this
statement I propose first to meet these
demands which I regard as perfectly
legitimate, and then to answer the questions
raised by Pandit Jawahar Lai Nehru. I
fear, however, that parts of this statement
may not interest the Pandit, and to save
his time I suggest that he may skip over
such pafts.

It is hardly necessary for me to say
that I welcome the Pandit's interest in
what I regard as one of the greatest, pro-
blems of the East and perhaps of the
whole worlds He is, I believe, the first
Nationalist Indian leader who has express-
ed a desire to understand the present

2

spiritual unrest in the world of Islam.
In view of the many aspects and possible
reactions of this unrest it is highly desir-
able that thoughtful Indian political leaders
should open their mind to the real meaning
of what is at the present moment agitating
the heart of Islam,

I do not wish, however, to conceal the
fact either from the Pandit or from any other .
reader of this statement that the Pandit's
articles have for the moment given my
mind rather a painful conflict of feelings.
Knowing him to be a man of wide cultural
sympathies my mind cannot but incline
to the view that his desire to understand
the questions he has raised is perfectly
genuine ; yet the way in which he has
expressed himself betrays a psychology
which I find difficult to attribute to him.
I am inclined to think that my statement
on Q,adianism— no more than a mere ex-
position of a religious doctrine on modern
lines — has embarrassed both the Pandit and
the Qadianis, perhaps because both in-
wardly resent, for different reasons; the
prospects of Muslim political and religious
solidarity particularly in India. It is
obvious that the Indian Nationalist whose

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political idealism has practically killed his
sense for fact, is intolerant -of the birth of
a desire for self-determination in the heart
. of North-West Indian Islam. He thinks,
wrongly in my opinion, that the only way to
Indian Nationalism lies in a total suppres-
sion of the cultural entities of the country
through th^ interaction of which alone
Indija can evolve a ' rich and enduring
culture. A nationalism achieved by such
methods can mean nothing but mutual
bitterness and even oppression. It is equally
obvious that the Qadianis, too, feel nervous
by the political awakening of the Indian
Muslims, because they feel that the rise
in political prestige of the Indian Muslims
is sure to defeat their designs to carve
out from the Ummat of the Arabian Pro-
phet a new Ummat for the Indian Prophet.
It is no small surpriseto me that my effort to
impress on the Indian Muslims the extreme
necessity of internal cohesion in the present
critical moment of their history in India ;
and my warning them against the forces of
disintegration, masquerading as Reformist
movements, should have given the Pandit
an occasion to sympathize with such forces.
However, I do not wish to pursue the.

4

unpleasant task of analyzing the Pandit's
motives. For the benefit of those who want
further elucidation of the general Muslim
attitude towards the Qadianis, I would quote
a passage from Durant's Story of Philo-
sophy which I hope will give the reader a
clearer idea of the issue involved in
Qadianism. Durant has in a few sentences
summed up the Jewish point of view in the
excommunication of the great philosopher
Spinoza. The reader must not think that
in quoting this passage I mean to insinuate
some sort of comparison between Spinoza
and the founder of Ahmadism. The dis-
tance betwen them, both in point of in-
tellect and character* is simply tremendous.
The "God-intoxicated** Spinoza never
claimed that he was the centre of a new
organization and that ail the Jews who did
not believe in him were outside the pale of
Judaism. Durant*s passage, therefore,
applies with much greater force to the
attitude of Muslims towards Qadianism
than to the.attitude of the Jews towards
the excommunication of Spinoza. The
passage is as follows : -

Furthermore, teligious unanimity seemed to
the elders their sole means of preserving the

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little Jewish group in Amsterdam from disinteg-
ration, and almost the last means of preserving
the unity, and so ensuring the survival, of the
scattered Jews of the world. If they had had
their own state, their own civil law, their own
establishments of secular force and power, to
compel internal cohesion and external respect,
they might have been" more tolerant but their
religion was to them their patriotism as well as
their faith ; the synagogue was their centre of
social and political life as well as of ritual
and worship ; and the Bible whose veracity
Spinoza had impugned was the "Portable
Fatherland" of their people ; under the
circumstances they thought heresy was treason,
and toleration suicide
^iSituated as the Jews were - a minority
community in Amsterdam — they were per-
fectly justified in regarding Spinoza as a
disintegrating factor threatening the dis-
solution of their community. Similarly the
Indian Muslims are right in regarding the
Qadiani Movement, which declares the
entire world of Islam as Kafir and socially
boycotts them, to be far more dangerous
to the collective life of Islam in India
than the metaphysics of Spinoza to the
collective life of the Jews. The Indian
Muslim, I. believe, instinctively realizes
the peculiar uature of the circumstances
in which he "is placed in India and is natur-

ally much more sensitive to- the forces of
disintegration than the Muslims of any
other country. This instinctive perception
of the average Muslim is in my opinion
absolutely correct and has, I have no doubt,
a much deeper foundation in the conscience
of Indian Islam, Those who talk of toler-
ation in a matter like this ■ are extremely
careless in using the word toleration which
I fear they do not understand at all.
The spirit of toleration may arise from
very different attitudes of the mind of man.
As Gibbon would say : There is the
toleration of the philospher to whom all
religions are equally true ; of the historian
to whom all are equally false ; and of the
politician to whpm all are equally useful.
There is the toleration of the man who
tolerates other modes of thought and be-
haviour because he has himself grown abso-
lutely indifferent to all modes of thought
^and behaviour. There is the toleration of
the weak man who, on account of sheer
weakness, must pocket all kinds of insults
heaped on things or persons whom he holds
dear. It is obvious that these types
of tolerance have no ethical value. On the
other hand they unmistakably reveal the

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spiritual impoverishment of the man who
practises them. True toleration is be-
gotten of intellectual breadth and spiritual
expansion* It is the toleration of the
spiritually powerful man who, while jealous
of the frontiersx^ of his own faith, can
tolerate and even appreciate all forms of
faith other than his own. Of this type
of toleration the true Muslim alone is cap-
able. His own faith is synthetic and for
this reason he can easily find grounds of
sympathy and appreciation in other faiths.
Our great Indian poet, Amir Khusro,
beautifully brings out the essence of this
type of toleration in the story of an idol-
worshipper. After giving an account of his
intense attachment to his idols the poet

addressee his Muslim readers as follows :

J-

Only a true lover of God can appreciate
the value of devotion even though it is
directed to gods in which he himself does
not believe. The folly of our preachers of,
toleration consists in describing the attitude
of the man who is jealous of the boundaries
of his own faith as one of intolerance. They

wrongly consider this attitude as a sign
of moral, inferiority. They do not under-
stand that the value of . his attitude is
essentially biological. Where the members
of a group feel, either instinctively or on
the basis of rational argument, that the
corporate life of the- social organism to
which they belpng is in danger their defen-
sive attitude must be appraised in reference
mainly to a biological criterion. Every
thought or deed in this connection must be
judged by the life-value that it may possess.
The question in this case is not whether
the attitude of an individual or community
towards the man who is declared to be a
heretic is morally good or bad. The question
is whether it is life-giving or life-destroying.
Pandit Jawahar Lai Nehru seerms to think
that a society founded on religious princi-
ples necessitates the institution of Inquisi-
tion. This is indeed true of the history of
Christianity ; but the history of Islam,
contrary to the Pandit's logic, shows that
during the last thirteen Hundred years of
the lift of Islam, the institution of Inquisi-
tion has been absolutely unknown in Muslim
countries. The Quran expressly prohibits
such an institution. "Do not seek out the

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shortcomings of others and carry not tales
against your brethren.'* Indeed the Pandit
.will find from the history of Islam that the
Jews and Christians, fleeing from religious
persecution in their own lands, always found
shelter in the lands of Islam. The two .
propositions on which the conceptual struc-
ture of Islam is based are so simple that it
makes heresy in the sense of turning the
heretic outside the fold of Islam almost
impossible. It is true that when a person
declared to be holding heretical doctrines
threatens the existing social order an
independent Muslim state will certainly
take action ; but in such a case the action
of the state will be determined more by
political considerations than by purely
religious ones. I can very well realize that
a man like the Pandit, who is born and
brought up in a society which has no well-
defined boundaries and consequently no
internal cohesion, finds it difficult to
conceive that a religious society can live and
prosper without state-appointed commis-
sions of enquiry into the beliefs of the
people. This is quite clear from the
passage which he quotes from Cardinal
Newman and wonders how far I would

10

accept the application of the Cardinal s
dictum to Islam. Let me tell him that there
IS a tremendous difference between the
jnner structure of Islam and Catholicism
wherem the complexity, the ultra-rational
character and the number of dogmas has,
as the history of Christianity shows, always
fostered possibilities of fresh heretical
interpretations. The simple faith of
Muhammad is based on two propositions
— that God is One, and that Muhammad is
the last of the line of those holy men who
have appeared from time to time in all coun-
tries and in all ages to guide mankind to the
right ways of living. If, as some Christian
writers think, a dogma must be defined as
an ultra-rational proposition which for the
purpose of securing religious solidarity must
be assented to without any understanding of
Its metaphysical import, then these two
simple propositions of Islam cannot be
described even as dogmas ; for both of them
are supported by the experience of mankind
and are fairly amenable to rational argu-
ment. The question of a heresy, which
nee<is the verdict whether the author of it
is withm or without the fold can arise, in
the case of a religious society founded on

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11

such simple propositions, only when the
heretic rejects both or either of these
propositions. Such heresy must be and
has been rare in theliistory of Islam which,
while jealous of its frontiers, permits
freedom of interpretation within these
frontiers. And since the phenomenon of
the kind of heresy which affects the bound-
aries of Islam has been rare in the history
of Islam, the feeling of the average Muslim
is naturally intense when a revolt of this

tkind arises. That is why the feeling of
Muslim Persia was so intense against the
Bahais. That is why the feeling of the
Indian Muslims is so intense against the
Qadianis.

It is true that mutual accusations of
heresy for differences in minor points of
law and theology among Muslim religious
sects have been rather common- In this
indiscriminate use of the word kufr both
for minor theological points of difiference
as well as for the extreme cases of heresy
which involve the excommunication of the
heretic, some present-day educated Ivlushms
who possess practically no knowledge
of the histcry of Muslim theological
disputes, see a sign of social " and political

12

disintegration of the Muslim community.
This, however^ is an entirely wrong notion.
The history of- Muslim Theology shows
that mutual accusation of heresy on minor
points of difference has, far from w^orking
as a disruptive force, actually given an
impetus to synthetic theological thought.
''When we read the history of develop-
ment of Muhammaden Law", says Prof.
Hurgrounje, "we find that, on the one
hand, the doctors of every age, on the
slightest stimulus, condemn one another
to the point of mutual accusations of heresy;
and, on the other hand, the very same
people with greater and greater unity of
purpose try to reconcile the similar quarrels
of their predecessors." The student of
Muslim Theology knows that among Muslim
legists this kind of heresy is technically
known as "heresy below heresy," i.e,, the
kind of heresy which does not involve the
excommunication of the culprit. It may '
be admitted, however that in the hands of
mullahs whose intellectual laziness takes
all oppositions of theological thought as
absolute and is consequently blind to the
unity in difference, this minor heresy may
become a source of great mischief. This

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mischief can be remedied only by giving to
the students of our theological schools a
clearer vision of the synthetic spirit of
Islam, and by re-initiating them into the
function, of logical contradiction as a
principle of movement in theological
dialectic. The question of what may be
called major heresy arises only when the
teaching of a thinker or a reformer affects
the trontiers of the faith of Islam. Unfor-
tunately this question does arise in connec-
tion with the teachings of Qadianism. It
must be pointed out here that the Ahmadi
movement is divided into two camps known
as the Qadianis and the Lahoris. The
former openly declare the foundef- to be a
full prophet ; the latter, either by convic-
tion or policy, have found it advisable to
preach an apparently toned down Qadian-
ism. However, the question whether the
founder of Ahmadism was prophet the
denial of whose mission entails what I call
the ''major heresy" is a matter of dispute
between the two sections. It is unnecessary
for my purposes to judge the merits of this
domestic controversy of the Ahmadis. I
believe, for reasons to be explained pre-
sently, that the idea of a full prophet whose

14

denial entails the denier*s excommunica-
tion from Islam is essential to Ahmadism ;
and that the, present head of the
Qadianis is far more consistent with the
spirit of the movement than the Imam of
the Lahoris.

The cultural value of the idea of
Finality in Islam I have fully explained
elsewhere. Its meaning is simple : No
spiritual surrender to any human being
after Muhamtnad who emancipated his
followers by giving them a law which
is realizable as arising from the very
core of human conscience. Theologically
the doctrine is that : The Socio-political
orgariizatiori^alled "Islam" is perfect and
eternal. No revelation the denial of which
entails heresy is possible after Muhammad.
He who claims such a revelation is a traitor
to Islam. Since the Cjadianis believe the
founder of the Ahmadiyya movement to be
the bearer of such a revelation, they declare
that the entire world of Islam is infidel.
The founder's own argument, quite worthy
of a mediaeval theologian^ is that the spiritu-
ality of the Holy Prophet of Islam must
be regarded as imperfect if it is not
creative of another Prophet. He claims his

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own Prophethood to be an evidence of the
Prophet-rearing power of the spirituality of
the Holy Prophet of Islam. But if you
further ask him whether the spirituality of
Muhammad is capable of rearing more pro-
phets than one, his answer is "No." This
virtually amounts to saying : *'Muhammad
is not the last Prophet ; I am the last/'
Far from understanding the cultural value
of the Islamic idea of finality in the history
of mankind generally and of Asia especially^
he thinks that finality in the sense that no
follower of Muhammad can ever reach the
status of Prophethood is a mark of imper-
fection in Muhammad Prophethood. As
I read the psychology of his mind he, in
the interest'of his own claim to Prophet-
hood, avails himself of what he describes
as the creative spirituality of the Holy
Prophet of Islam and at the same time
deprives the Holy Prophet of his 'finality*
by limiting the creative capacity of his spiri- ,
tuality to the rearing of only one prophet,
i.e., the founder of the Ahmadiyya move-
ment. In this way does the new prophet
quietly steal away the 'finality* of one whom
he claims to be his spiritual progenitor.
He claims to be a ' buruz ( sJji ) of the

16

Holy Prophet of Islam insinuating thereby
that, being a * buruz * of him, his ' finality'
is virtually the ' finality * of Muhammad ;
and that this view of the matter, therefore,
does not violate the * finality * of the Holy
Prophet, In identifying the two finalities,
his own ^nd that of the Holy Prophet,
he conveniently loses sight of the temporal
meaning of the idea of Finality. It
is, however, obvious that the word
* buTuz * in the sense even of complete
likeness, cannot help him at all ; for the
huruZt * must always remain the other
of its original. Only in the sense of rein-
carnation a * buruz ' becomes identical
with the original- Thus if we take the
word^* buruz ' to mean ** like in spiritual
qualities" the argument remains ineffective ;
if, on the other hand, we take it to mean
reincarnation of the original in the Aryan
sense of the word, the argument becomes
plausible ; but its author turns out to be
only a Magian in disguise.

It is further claimed on the. authority of
the great _ Muslim Mystic,, Muhyuddin
Ibn-i-Arabi of Spain, that it is possible for
a Muslim saint to attain, in his spiritual
evolution, to the kind of experience charac-

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17

tcnstic oi the prophetic consciousncsti. I
piiM sonally believe this view of the Sheikh
Muhyuddin Ibn-i-Arabi to be psychologi-
cally unsound; but assuming it to be correct
the Qadiani argument is- based on a com-
plete misunderstanding of his exact posi-
tion. The Sheikh regards it as a purely
private achievement which does not, and
m the nature of things cannot, entitle such
a samt to declare that all those who do not
beheve in him are outside the pale of Islam.
Indeed, from the Sheikh's point of view,
there may be more tham one saint, living
in the same age or country, who may attain
to prophetic consciousness. The point to
be seized IS that while it is psychologically
possible for a saint to attain to prophetic
experience, his experience will have no
socio-pohtical significance making him the
centre of a new organization and entitling
hitn to declare this organization to be the
criterion of the faith or disbelief of the
followers of Muhammad.

Leaving his mystical psychology aside I
■am convinced from a careful study of the
relevant passages of the Futuhat that the
great Spanish mystic is as firm a believer in
the Finahty of Muhammad as any orthodox

18

Muslim. And if he had seen in his mystical
vision that one day in the East some Indian
amateurs in Sufism would seek to destroy
the Holy Prophet*s finality under cover of
his mystical psychology, he would have cer-
tainly anticipated the Indian Ulema in
warning the Muslims of the world against
such traitors to Islam.

n

Coming now to the essence of Ahmad-
ism. A discussion of its sources and of the
way in which pre-Islamic Magian ideas
have, through the channels of IsTamic mys-
ticism, worked on the mind of its author
would be extremely interesting from the
standpoint of comparative religion » It is,
however, impossible for me to undertake
this discussion here. Suffice it to say that
the real nature of Ahmadism is hidden
behind the mist of mediaeval mysticism and
theology- The Indian Ulema, therefore,
took it to be a purely theological movemerit
and came out with theological weapons to
deal with it. I believe, however, that this
was not the proper method of dealing
with the movement ; and that the success
of the Ulem» was, therefore, onl^ partial.
A careful psychological analysis of the

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10

revelations of the founder would perhaps
be an effective method of dissecting the
inner life of his personality. In this
connection I may mention Maulvi Manzoor
Elahi's collection of the founder's revela-
tions which offers rich and varied material
for psychological research. In my opinion
the book provides a key to the character
and personality of the founder; and I do
hope that one day some young student of
modern psychology will take it up for
serious study* If he takes the Quran for
his criterion, as he must for reasons which
cannot be explained here, and extends his
study to a comparative examination of the
experiences of the founder of the Ahmadiy-
ya movement and contemporary non-
Muslim mystics, such as Ram Krishna of
Bengal, he is sure to meet more than one
surprise as to the essential character of
the cxpcVience on the basis of which pro-
phethood is claimed for the originator of
Ahmadism.

Another equally effective and more
fruitful method, from the standpoint of the
plain man, is to understand the real content
of Ahmadism in the light of the history of
Muslim theological thought in India at least

20

trom the year 1799. The year 1799 is
extremely important in the history of the
world of Islam. In this year fell Tippu ;
and his fall meant the extinguishment of
Muslimhopes for political prestige in India.
In the same year was fought the battle of
Navarneo which saw the destruction of the
Turkish fleet. Prophetic were th§- words
of the author of the chronogram of Tippu*s
fall which visitors of Serangapatam find
engraved on the wall of Tippu's mausoleum;
" Gone is the glory of Ind as well as of Roum/'
Thus in the year 1799 the political decay
of Islam in Asia reached its climax- But
just as out of the humiliation of Germany
on the day of Jena arose the modern
German nation, it may be said with equal
truth that out of the political humiliation of
Islam in the year 1799 arose modern Islam
and her problems. This point I shall
explain in the sequel. For the present I
want to draw the reader's attention to
some of the questions which have arisen in
Muslim India since the fall of Tippu and
the development of European imperialism
in Asia.

Does the idea of Caliphate in Islam
embody a religious institution ? How are

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the Indian Muslims and for the matter of
thatall Muslims outside the Turkish Empire
related to the Turkish Caliphate ? Is India
Dar-ul~Harb or Dar-ul-Islam ? What is the
real ixieaning of the doctrine of Jihad in
Islam? Whatisthe meaning of the expres-
sion " From amongst you " in the Quranic
verse : Obey God, obey the Prophet and
the masters of the affair, i.e., rulers, from
amongst you''? What is the character of
the traditions of the Prophet foretelling
the advent of , Imam Mehdi ? These ques-
tions and some others which arose sub-
sequently were, for obvious reasons, ques-
tions for Indian Muslims only. European
imperialism, however, which was thenrapidly
penetrating the world of Islam, was also
intimately interested in them. The con-
troversies which these questions created
form a moat interesting chapter in the
history of Islam in India. The story is a
long one and is still waiting for a powerful
pen. Muslim politicians whose e>^es were
mainly fixed on the realities of the situation
succeeded in winning over a section of the
ulema to adopt a line of theological argu-
ment which as they thought suited.the situa-
tion ; but it was not easy to conquer by

22

mere logic the beliefs which had ruled for
centuries the conscience of the masses of
Islam in India. In such a situation logic
can either proceed on the ground of political
expediency or on the lines jaf a fresh orient-
ation of texts and traditions. In either
case the argument will fail to appeal to the
masses. To the intensely religious masses
of Islam only one thing can make a con-
clusive appearand that isDivine Authority.
For an effective eradication of orthodox
beliefs it was found necessary to find a
revelational basis for a politically suitable
orientation of theological doctrines involved
in the questions ^ mentioned above. This
revelational basis is provided byAhmadism,
And the Ahmadis themselves claim this to
be the greatest service rendered by them to
British imperialism. The prophetic claim to
a revelational basis for theological views of
a political significance amounts to declaring
that those who do not accept the claimant's
views are infidels of the first water and
destined for the flames of Hell. As I
understand the significance of. the move-
ment, the Ahmadi belief that Christ died
the death of. an ordinary "mortal, and
that his second advent means only the

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23

advent of a person who is spiritually * like
unto him/ give the movement some sort of
a rational appearance ; but . they are not
really essential to the spirit of the move-
rnent. In my opinion they are only pre-
liminary steps towards the idea of full
prophethood which alone can serve the
purposes of the movement eventually
brought into being by new political forces.
In primitive countries it is not logic but
authority that appeals. Given a sufficient
amount of ignorance, credulity which stran-
gely enough sometimes co-exists with good
intelligence, and a person sufficiently auda-.
cious to declare himself a recipient of Divine
revelation whose denial would entail eternal
damnation, it is easy, in a subject Muslim
country, to invent a political theology and
to build a community whose creed is politi-
cal servility. And in the Punjab even an
ill-woven net of vague theological expres-
sions can easily capture the innocent
peasant who has been for centuries exposed
to all kinds of exploitation. Pandit Jawahar
Lai Nehru advises the orthodox of all
religions to unite and thus to delay the
coming of what he conceives to be Indian
Nationalism. This ironical advice assumes

24

that Ahmadism is a reform moverhent ; he
does not know that as far as Islam in Iiidia
IS concerned Ahmadism involves both reli-
gious and political issues of the highest
^^portance. As I have explained above,
the function of Ahmadism in the history of
Muslim religious thought is to furnish a
revelational basisforlndia's present political
subjugation. Leaving aside the purely re-
ligious issues, on the ground of political
issues alone it does not lie in the mouth of
a man like PanditXjawahar Lai Nehru to
accuse Indian Muslims of reactionary con-
servatism. I have no doubt that if he had
grasped the real nature of Ahmadism he
would have very much appreciated the atti-
tudte of Indian Muslims towards a religious
movement which claims Divine authority
for the woes of India.

. ^^^s the reader will see that the pallor
of Ahmadism which we find on the cheeks
of Indian Islam to-day is not an abrupt
phenomendn in the history of Muslim re-
ligious thought in India. The ideas which
eventually shaped themselves in the form
of this movement became prominent in
theological discussions long before the
founder of Ahmadism was b&n. Nor do

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25

I mean to insinuate that the founder of
Ahmadism and his companions deli4>erately
planned their fHTogramme. I dare say the
founder of the Ahmadiyya movement did
hear a voice ; but whether this voice came
from the God of Life and Power or arose
out of the spiritual impoverishment of the
people must depend upon the nature of the
movement which it has created and the
kihd of thought and emotion which it has
given to those who have listened to it.
The reader must not think that^I . am
using metaphorical language. The Jife-
history of nations shows that when tac
tide of life in a people begins to ^bb,
decadence itself becomes a source of
inspiration, inspiring their poets, philoso-
phers, saints, statesmen and turning them
into a class of apostles whose sole ministry
is to glorify, by the force of a seductive art
or logic, ail that is ignoble and ugly Ik the
life of their people.- These apostles uncon-
sciously clothe despair in the glittering
garment of hope, undermine the traditional
values of conduct and thus destroy the
-spiritual virility of those who happen to be
their victims One can only imagine the
rotten state of a people's will who arc, on

26

the basis of Divine authority, made to
accept their political environment as linal.
Thus all the actors who participated in the
dram_aof Ahmadism were, I think, only inno-
cent instruments in the hands of decadence.
A similar drama had already been acted in
Persia ; but it did not lead, and could not
have led, to the religious and political issues
which Ahmadism has created for Islam in
India. Russia offered tolerance to Babism
and allowed the Babia to open their first
missionary centre in Ishqabad. England
showed Ahmadis the same tolerance in
allowing them to open their first missionary
centre in Wofein^'. Whether Russia and
England showed this tolerance on the
gi-ound of imperial expediency or pure
btoadmindedness is difficult for us to
decide. This much is absolutely clear that
this tolerance has created difficult problems
for Islam in Asia; In view of the structure
of Islam, as I understand it, I haVe not the
least doubt in my mind- that Islam will
emerge purer out of the difficulties thus
created for her. Times are changing.
Things in India have already taken a new
turn. The new spirit of democracy which
is coming to India is sure to disillusion the

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27

Ahmadis and to convince them of the
absolute futility of their theological inven-
tions.

Nor will Islam tolerate any revival of
mediaeval mvsticism which has already rob-
bed its followers of their healthy instincts
and given them only obscure thinking in
return. It has, during the course of the
past centuries, absorbed the best minds
of Islam leaving the affairs of the state to
mere mcdiocrifies. Modern Islam cannot
afford to repeat the experiment. Nor
c*m it tolerate a repetition of the
l^unjab experiment of keeping Muslims
occupied for half a century in theological
problems which had absolutely no bearing
on life. Islam has already passed into the
broad daylight of fresh thought and experi-
cn^cc ; and no saint or prophet can bring it
Ijack to the fogs of mediaeval mysticism.

in

Let me now turn to Pandit Jawahar
Lai Nehru's questions- I fear the Pandit's
articles reveal practically no acquaintance
with Islam or its religious history during
the 19th century. Nor does he seem to

28

have 'read what I have already written on
the subject of his questions. It is not
possible for me to reproduce here all that
I have written before* Nor is it possible
to write here a religious history of Islam in
the 19th century without which a thorough
understanding of the present situation in
the world of Islam is impossible. Hundreds
of books aad articles have been written on
Turkey and modern Islam. I have read
most of this literature and probably the
Pandit has also read it. I assure him,
however, that not one . of these writers
understa'nds the nature of the effect or of
the cause that has brought about that effect.
It is. therefore, necessary to briefly indicate
the main currents of Muslim thought in
Asia during the 19th century.

I have said above that in the year 1799
the political decay of Islam reached its
climax. There can, however, be no greater
testimony to the inner vitality of Islam
than the fact that it practically took no
time to realize its position in the world.
During the 19th century were born Sir
Syed Ahmad Khan in India, Syed Jamal-ud-
Din Afghani in Afghanistan and Mufti Alam
Jan in Russia. These rnen were probabjy-

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29

inspired by Mohammad Ibn-i- Abdul
Wahab who was born in Najd in 1700,
the founder of the so-called Wahabi
movement which may fitly be described
as the first throb of life in modern
Islam. The influence of Sir Syed Ahmad
Khan remained on the whole confined to
India, It is probable, however, that he
was the jfirst modern Muslim to catch a
glimj)se of the positive character of the
age which was coming. The remedy for
the ills of Islam pioposed by him> as by
Mufti Alam Jan in Russia, was modern
fducation. But the real greatness of
tlur man consists in the fact that he
wiis the first Indian Muslim who felt the
neetl of a fresh orientation of Islam and
worked for it. We may differ from his
religious views, but there can be no deny-
ing the fact that his sensitive soul was the
first to react to the modern age.

The extreme conservatism of Indian
Muslims which had lost its hold on the reali-
ties of life failed to see the reai meaning of
the religious attitude of Syed Ahmad Khan.
In the North-West of India, a country
more primitive and more saint-ridden than
the rest of India, the Syed's movement was

30

soon followed by the reaction of Ahmadism
— a strange mixture of Senietic and Aryan
mysticism with whom spiritual revival con-
sists not in the purification of the indivi-
dual's inner life according to the principles
of the old Islamic Suftism, but in satisfying
the expectant attitude of the masses by
providing a 'Promised* Messiah. The
function of this 'Promised Messiah' is not
to extricate the individual from an ener-
vating present but to make him slavishly
surrender his ego to its dictates. This
reaction carries within itself a very subtle
^ contradiction. It retains the discipline
of Island, but destroys the will which that
discipline was intended to fortify.

Maulana Syed Jamal-ud-Din Afghani
was a man of a different stamp. Strange
are the ways of Providence i One of the
most advanced Muslims of our time^ both
in religious thought and action, was born in
Afghanistan ! A perfect master of nearly
all the -Muslim languages of the world
and endowed with the most winning
eloquence, his restless soul migrated from
one Muslim country to another influencing
some of the most prominent men in Persia.
Egypt and Turkey, Some of the greatest

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theologians of our times such as .
Mufti Muhammad Abduhu, and some ot
thrmenof the younger generation who
l.itrr became political leaders, such as
/.u'hlul Pasha of Egypt, were his disciples.
\ {v wrote little, spoke much and thereby
tranformed into miniature Jamal-ud-Dins
„ll those who came into contact with
hiin. He never claimed to be a prophet
ttt ii rrncwcr ; yet no man in our tinie
lias atirred the soul of Islam more deeply
than he. His spirit is still working m
the world of Islam and nobody knows
where it will end.

It may, however^ be asked, what exactly
was the objective of these great Muslims ?
The answer is that they found the world ot
Islam ruled by three main forces and
they concentrated their whole energy on
creating a revolt against these forces :

I, Mullaism.—The^ Uletna have always
been a source of great strength to Islam.
But during the course of centuries, es-
pecially since the destruction of Baghdad,
they became extremely conservative and
would not allow an^ freedom of Ijtihadt
i.e., the formipg of independent judgment
in matters of law. The Wahabi movement

32

which was a source of inspiration to the
19th century Muslim reformers was really
a revolt against this rigidity of the IJlcma.
Thus thgr first objective of the 19th century
Muslim reformers was a fresh orientation
of the faith and a freedom to reinterpret
the law in the light of advancing experience.

2. Mysticism. — The masses of Islam
wer^ swayed by the kind of mysticism
which blinked actualities, enervated the
people and kept them steeped in all
kinds of superstition. From its high estate
as a force of spiritual education, mysticism
had fallen down to a mere means of exploit-
ing the ignorance and the credulity of
the people. It gradually and invisibly
unnerved the will of Islam and softened
it to the extent of seeking relief from
the rigorous discipline of the law of
Islam,. The 19th century reformers rose
in revolt against this mysticism and called
Muslims to the broad daylight of the
modern world. Not that they were
materialists. Their mission was to open
the eyes of the Muslims to the spirit of
Islam which aimed ait the conquest of
matter and not jflight from it.

J. Muslim Kings whose gaze was

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33

«oIely fixed on their own dynastic interests
and who, so long as these were protected,
did not hesitate to sell their countries
to the highest bidder. To prepare the
masses of Muslims for a revolt against such
ii state of things in the world of Islam
was the special mission of Syed Jamal-ud-
I lin Af^Jvani.

It iH not possible here to give a detailed
nccount ol the transformation which these
reformers brought about in the world
of Muslim thought and feeling. One thing,
however, is clear. They prepared to a
^neat extent the ground for another set of
men. I.e., Zaghlul Pasha, Mustafa Kamal
and Raza Shah. The reformers inter-
preted, argued and explained ; but the
M't of men who came. after them, although'
inferior in academic learning are men who,
iHying on their healthy instincts, had
(he courage to rush into sun-lit space and
do, even by force, what the new con-
ditions of life demanded. Such men
are liable to make mistakes ; but the
history of nations shows that even their
iinstakcs have sometimes borne good
Iniil. In , them it is not logic but life
lli.it struggles restless to solve its own

34

problems. It may be- pointed out here
that Syed Ahmad Khan, Syed Jamal-ud-
Din Afghani and hundreds of the latter s
disciples in Muslim countries were not
westernized Muslims. They were men who
had sat on their knees before the Mullahs
of the old school and had breathed the
very intellectual and spiritual atmosphere
which they later sought to reconstruct.
Pressure of modern ideas may be admitted ;
but the history thus briefly indicated above
clearly shows that the upheaval which has
come to Turkey and which is likely, sooner
or later, to come to other Muslim countries,
is almost wholly determined by the forces
within. It is only the superficial observer of
the modern world of Islam who thinks that
the present crisis in- the world of Islam
is wholly due to the working of alien forces.

Has then the world of Islam outside
India or especially Turkey abandoned
Islam Pandit Jawahar Lai Nehru thinks
that Turkey had ceased to be a Muslim
country. He does not seem to realize
that the question whether a person or a
community has ceased to be a member of
Islam is, from the Muslinn point of
view, a purely legal question and must be

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decided in view of the structural pnnciplefl
of Islam. As long as a person is loyal to
thi- two basic principles of Islam, t.^., the
Unity of God and Finality ^^^f
Prophet, not even the strictest Mullah can
turn him outside the pale of Islam even
though his interpretations of the Law or
of the text of the Quran are believed to be
erroneous. But perhaps Pandit Jawahar
Lai Nehru has in his mind the supposed or
TK'M itinovations which the Ata-Turk has
i III reduced. Let us for a moment examme
these, Is it the development of a general
materialist outlook in Turkey which seems
inimical to Islam ? Islam has had too
much of renunciation ; it is time for the
Muslims to look to realities. Materialism
irt a had weapon against religion ; but
it is quite an effective one against mullah-
craft and Rufi-craft' which deliberately
mvstify the people with a view to
exploit their ignorance and credulity. The
spirit of Islam is not afraid of its contact
with matter. Indeed the Quran says : "For-
et not thy share in the World." It is
Jifficult for a non-Muslim to understand
lluit, considering the history of the Muslim
world during the last few centuries, the

S

My

progress of a materialist outlook is only a
torm of self-realization. Is it then the aboli-
tion of the old dress or the introduction of
the Latin Script ? Islam as a religion has
no country ; as a society it has no specific
language, no specific dress. Even the
recitation of the Quran in Turkish is not
without some precedent in Muslim history.
I'ersonally I regard it as a serious error . of
judgment ; for the modern student of the
Arabic language and literature knows full

u- u u * "^"^^y non-European language
which has a future is Arabic. But the reports
are that the Turks have already abandon-
ed the Vernacular recitation of the Quran,
Is It. then the abolition of Polygamy or the
licentiate Ulema ? According to the Law
ot Islam the Amir of a Muslim State has the
power to revoke the '^permissions" of the
Jaw it he is convinced that they tend to
cause social corruption. As to the licentiate
Ulema I would certainly introduce it in
Mushm India if I had the power to do so.
X? 11 u .^^/e^t;ons of the myth-making
Mullah is largely due the stupidity of the
average Muslim. , In excluding him from
;^e religious life of the people the Ata-
1 urk has done what would have delighted

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37 '

the heart of an Ibn-i-Taimiyyia or a Shah
Wall Ullah. There is a tradition of the Holy
Piophet reported in the 'Mishkat to the
effect that only the Amir of the Muslim
State and the person or persons appointed
by him are entitled to preach to the people.
I do not know whether the Ata-Turk
ever knew of this tradition ; yet it is stnk-
in« how the light of his Islamic conscience
hwH illumined the zone of his action in this
imnortant matter. The adoption ot the
Swi^S Code with, its rule of inheritance is
certainly a serious error which has arisen
out of the youthful zeal for reform excus-
able in a people furiously desiring to go
ahead. The joy of emancipation from the
fetters of a long-standing priest-cratt some-
times drives a people to untried courses ot
action. But Turkey as well as the rest ot
the world of Islam have yet to realize the
hitherto unrevealed economic aspects oUhe
Islamic law of inheritance which Von
Kremer describes as the ^Supremely
original branch of Muslim law . is it tne
abolition of the Caliphate or the separation
of Church and State ? In its essence Islamr
ift not Imperialism. In the abolition of
the Caliphate' which since the days ot

38

Omayyads had practically become a kind of
Empire it is only the spirit of Islam that
has worked out through the Ata-Turk. In
order to understand the Turkish Ijtihad in
the matter of the Caliphate we cannot but
seek the guidance of Ibn-i-Khaldun — the
great philosophical historian of Islam, and
the father of modern history, I can do .no
better than to quote here a passage from
my Reconstruction :

Ibn-i Khaldun in his famous Prolegomena
mentions " three distinct views of the idea of
Universal Caliphate in Islam : (l) That Universal
Imamate is a Divine institution and is conse-
quently indispensable, (2) That it is merely a
matter of expediency. (3) That there is no need
of such an institution. The last view was taken
by the Khawarij, the early Republicans of Islam,
It seems that modern Turkey has shifted from
the first to the second view, i.e., to the view of
the Mutazila who regarded Universal Imamate as
a matter of expediency only. The Turks argue
that in our political thinking we must be guided
by our past political experience which points
unmistakably to the fact that the idea of universal
Imamate has failed in practice. It was a work-
able idea when the Empire of Islam was intact.
S?nce the break-up of this Empire independent
units have arisen. The idea has ceased to be
uperative and cannot work as a living factor in
the organization of modern Islam.

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39

anil State alien to Islam. The doctrine of
the Major Occultation of the Imam in a
Hcnse effected this separation long ago in
Shia Persia. The Islamic idea of the
division of the religious and political func-
tions of the State must not be confounded
with the European idea of the separation of ^
C^hurch and State. The former is only a
division of functions as is clear from the
yradual creation in the Muslim State of the
offices of Shaikh-ul-Islam and Ministers ;
the latter is based on the metaphysical
dualism of spirit and matter. Christianity
began as an order of Monks having nothing
to do with the affairs of the world ; Islam
was, from the very beginning, a civil society
with laws civil in their nature though
believed to be revelational in origin. The
metaphysical dualism on which the Euro-
pean id.ea is based has . borne bitter fruit
among Western nations. Many years ago a
book was written in America called //
Christ came to Chicago. In reviewing this
book an American author says :

The lesson to be learned from Mr. Stead's
book is that the great evils from which hu-
manity is suffering to-day are evils that can be

40

handled only by religious sentiments ; that the
handling of those evils has been in the great
part surrendered to the State ; that the State
has itself been delivered over to corrupt
political machines ; that such machines are not
only unwilling, but unable, to deal with those
evils: and that nothing but a religious awaken-
ing of the citis^ens to their public duties can
save countless millions from misery, and the
State itself from degradation.
In the history of Muslim political ex-
perience the separation has meant only a
separation of functions, not of ideas. It
cannot be maintained that in Muslim coun-
tries the separation of Church and State
means the freedom of Muslim legislative
activity from the conscience of the people
which has for centuries been trained and
developed by the spirituality of Islam-
Experience alone will show how the
idea will work in modern Turkey. We can
only hope that it will not be productive of
the evils which it has produced in Europe
and America. >##*l|ir'ili^^ .

I have briefly discussed the above m-
novations more for the sake of the Muslim
■reader than for Pandit Jawahar Lai Nehru.
The innovation speciftcally mentioned, hy
the Pandit is the adoption by the Turks
and Persians of racial and nationalist ideals.

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41

Hooms to think that the adoption of
Hill h ideals means the abandonment of
l il.un by Turkey and Persia, The student
<jf history knows very well that Islam was
Ixirn at a time when the old principles of
human unification, such as blood relation-
whip and throne-culture were failing. It,
therefore, finds the principle of human uni-
lii ation not in the blood and bones but in
flu* miiid of man. Indeed its social message
lo niankind is : " Deracialize yourself or
pi«rish by internecine war." It is no exag-
B(*ration to say that Islam looks askance at
Nature's race-building plans and creates,
I'V means of its peculiar institutions, an
■ lutlonk which would counteract the race-
iMiihliiig forces of nature. In the direction
iit human domestication it has done in one
I In i\i;sand years far more important work
than ( ^liristianity and Budhism ever did in
two thousand years or more. It is no less
ili.in a niiiacle that an Indian Muslim finds
liimsi lf at home in Morocco in spite of the
di p iiity of race and language. Yet it

f i'»t be said that Islam is totally opposed

('• t .H r Its history shows that in social
ii-loiiii it relies mainly on its scheme for
I uiKihI deracialization and proceeds on the'

42

lines of least resistance, " Verily, " says
the Quran, *'We have made you into tribes
and sub-tribes so that you may be identi-
fied ; but the best among you in the eye of
God is he who is the purest in life.'* Con-
sidering the mightiness of the problem of
race and the amount of time which the
deracialization of mankind must necessarily
take, the attitude of Islam towards the pro-
blem of race, i.e., stooping to conquer with-
out itself becoming a race-making factor,
is the only rational and workable attitude.
There is a remarkable passage in Sir Arthur
Keith's little book, The Problem of Race,
which is worth quoting here :

And now man is awakening to the fact that
Nature's primary end--race building--is incom-
patible with the necessities of the modern econo-
mic world and is asking himself : What must
I do? Bring race-building as practised hitherto
by nature to an end and have eternal peace? Or
permit Nature to pursue her old course and
have, as a necessary consequence — :War ? Man
has to choose the one course or the other. There
is no intermediate course possible.
It is, therefore, clear that iftheAta-^
Turk is inspired by Pan-Turanianism he is:
going not *o much against the spirit of Islam
as against the spirit of the tirr? es. And if
he is a believer in the absoluteness of

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43

rHCCR, he is sure to be defea
t»pir it of modern times which is wholly in
kri*|iint? with the spirit of Islam. Person-
ally, however, I do not think that the Ata-
Turk is inspired by Pan-Turanianism, as
I In-lieve his Pan-Turanianism is only a
political retort to Pan-Slavonism, or Pan-
CJrrtnanism or Pan-Anglo-Saxonism.

I ( the meaning of the above paragraph
tH wi'll understood it is not difficult to see
I hi- ^Ulitude of Islam towards nationalist
ideals. Nationalism in the sense of love
nfune^s country and even readiness to die
lor its honour is a part of the Muslims'
faith ; it comes into conflict with Islam only
wlu-ri it begins to play the role of a political
I uiKcpt and claims to be a principle of
human solidarity demanding that Islam
whould recede to the background of a mere
private opinion and cease to be a living
l.u tor in the national life. In Turkey,
IN > ::ia, Egypt and other Muslim countries
i'. will never become a problem. In these
countries Muslims constitue an overwhel-
ming majority and their minorities, i.e.,
Jcvvi, Christians and Zoroastrians, according
to the law of Islam, are either "People of
(hi* Ho{>k" or "like the People of the Book*'

the

44

with whom the ]aw of Islam allows fre J
social relations including matrimonial alliJ
ances. It becomes a problem for Muslims
only in countries where they happen to be
in a minority, and nationalism demandsj
their complete self-effacement. In majorit>^
countries Islam accommodates nationalisms
lor there Islam and nationalism are practi-'
cally id^entical in minority countries it isi
justified an seeking self-determination as
cultural unit. In either case, it is thoroughly
consistent with itself.

The above paragraphs briefly sum u
ttie exact situation in the world of Islam
to-day. If this is properly understood it
will become clear that the fundamentals o
islamic solidarity are not any way shaken
,^J^y , Q^tern^] or internal forces. The
solidarity of Islam, as I have explained
before, consists in a uniform belief in the
two structural principles of Islam supple-
mented by the five well-known "practices
ot the faith.'' These are the first essentials
ot Islamic solidarity which has, in this
sense existed ever since the days of the
Holy Prophet until it was recently
disturbed by the Bahais in Persia and the
<^adianis in India. It is a guarantee for a

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I't.uiically uniform spiritual atmosphere in
M).- world of Islam. It facilitates the
PY'.'li*"il combination of Muslim states,
which combmation may either assume the
f'H ni of a world-state (ideal) or of a league
'•I Mushm states, or of a number of inde-
pi-ndt-iU states whose pacts and alliances
Mi«* cU-ternimed by purely economic and
polttn al considerations. That is how the
foncpptual structure of this simple faith is
• elated to the process of time. The pro-
fundity of this relation can be understood
'Hily m the light of certain veises of the
Quran which it IS not possible to explain
h.-rr without drifting away from the point
Mnmr.lintely before us. Politically, then,
Hh v..lidarity of Islam is shaken only when
MuMhm states war on one another •
M" hrHMisly it is shaken only when Muslims
I' l- i auamst any of the basic beliefs and
|n .ij ( ices of the Faith. It is in the interest
of thhs eternal solidarity that Islam cannot
tolerate any rebellious group within its fold.
Uutside the fold such a group is entitled to
•• much toleration as the followers of any
Othtfr fttith. It appears to me that at the
prirpicnt moment Islam is passing through
4 P'-nod of transition. It is shifting from

46

one form of political solidarity to some
other form which the forces of history
have yet to determine. Events are so
rapidly moving in the modern world that
it is almost impossible to make a prediction.
As to what will be the attitude towards
non-Muslims of a politically united Islam,
if such a thing ever comes» is a question
which history alone can answer. All that
I can say is that, lying mid-way between
Asia and Europe and being a synthesis ol
Eastern and \vestern outlook on life, Islam
ouqht to act as a kind of intermediary
between the East and the West. But what,
if the follies of Europe create an irreconci-
lable Islam ? As things are developing in
Europe from day to day they demapd a
radical transformation of Europe's attitude
towards Islam. We can only hope that
political vision will not allow itself to be
obscured by the dictates of imperial ambi-^
tion or economic exploitation. In so far
as India is concerned I can say with perfect
confidence that the Muslims of India will
not submit to any kind of political idealism
Which would seek to annihilate their
cultural entity. Sure of this they may be
trusted to know how to reconcile the claims

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47 ^ ^

"■I u'lii^ion and patriotism.

( )iK- word about His Highness the Agha
Khan. What has led Pandit Jawahar Lai
Nfluu to attack the Agha Khan it is
• iil/irult for me to discover. Perhaps he
1 1 links that the Qadianis and the Ismailis
hill under the same category. He is
obvitjusly not aware that however the theo-
l'>MJi'i^l interpretation of the Ismailis may
^•i t, they beleive in* the basic principles
f Islam. It is true that they believe in a
^^•M netual Imamat ; but the Imam according
ip thcin is not a recipient of Divine revela-
tion. He is only an expounder of the Law:
fi is only the other day (vide, the Star
«»(' Alhihabad, March 12, 1934) that His
MiKhncss the Agha Khan addressed his
(olfowcrK as follows :

Bear witness that Allah is One. Mtihammad
iM the Prophet of Allah. Qaran is the Book of
Alliih. Ka'ba IS the Qibla of all.' You are
Mushins and should live with Muslims. Greet
MuHlims with Assalam-o-Alai kum.

Clive your children Islaniic names. Pray with
Muslim congregations in mosques. Keep fast
• i-mil.irly. Solemnize your marriages according
ti» lNl4)mic rules of Nikah. Treat all Muslims
•It your brothers.

h is for the Pandit now to decide
Will i her the Agha Khan represents the
iiihtl.inty of Islam or not.

Ahmadis are Traitor

Botli To Islam An^ To lnd».

(ALLAMA WBAL-b LETTEK TO
PANDIT JAVVAHAR LAL NEHKO.)

LAHOHE
June 21» 1936

My dear Pandit Jawaharlal,

Thank you so mych for your letter which
i recewecr y^^sterday. At the time 1 wrote in
reply to your articles I beheved that J^^

toJ^ver. your ivtuslini Admirers in the
^'nZwhere felt perturbed th
as they thought y°" ««« ^ ^ wT'^in'^y due

rn^JinLuT ^'^^.;sV7a£.ttle^nterest i„

tht»n\n&v but had to dabble in U a oii

traitors both to Islam and to India.

www.peopleofsunnah.com

I was extremely sorry to miss the opportunity
of meeting you in Lahore. 1 was very ill in
those days and could not leave my rooms. For
the last two years, 1 have been Jiving a life
practically of retirement on account of continued
Illness. i>?) let me know when you come to the
Punjab next. Did you receive my letter regarding
your proposed Union for Civil Liberties? As
you do not acknowledge it in your letter I
fear if never reached you.

Yours Sincerely
Muhaminad Iqbail

The iqbaUties, in Pakistan have not published
this letter in any collection of IqbaFs letters
which speaks itself about the Ahmadis effects.

• * * , "

This letter has been copied from a book "A BUNCH
UF OLD LETTERS" published by Asia Publishing
House, Bombay » Culcutta. New Delhi, Madras.